…I lose the family ledger phone?
Your family's whole history lives on that one device. Your backup is the only copy that exists anywhere — the export file (.json) or the HXP1- code from Parent mode → Backup. Restore it on a new device via "Have a backup file or code from another device?" during setup, and you're back.
Be honest with yourself about backup age: restoring a two-week-old backup puts your family exactly where it was two weeks ago. Anything since — approvals, deductions, streak days, goal progress — is gone. Kid phones stay paired (no new codes needed), and their last few days of earn codes can be re-sent to fill some of the gap; since you approve every entry by hand, you're the judge of what still counts.
The sync service can't rescue you. It only ever holds small encrypted status notes it cannot read, never your ledger — that's the point.
…I forget the parent PIN?
Tap "Forgot PIN?" on the PIN screen, enter your four-word recovery phrase, and set a new PIN on the spot. The phrase is created when you set up your family (existing families get a one-time offer in parent mode, and it's always available under Settings → Parent PIN). Write it down somewhere kids don't snoop — it's shown exactly once, and it travels inside your backups just like the PIN does.
…sync cuts out mid-something?
Nothing is lost, ever, by a bad connection. A kid's finished work waits in a queue on their phone and retries by itself; if the same entry somehow arrives twice, the ledger recognizes it and keeps one. A voucher that never reached the kid's phone hasn't been used — re-credit it with one tap. A lost settlement comes back three ways: the queue retries, the kid can send the code by hand, or you re-credit manually. The design rule underneath: the connection can only delay things, never destroy them.
One honest edge: if the family ledger stays completely offline for over a month, work a kid's phone sent during that time can expire before you see it. A week's camping trip is nothing; a month is worth avoiding.
…a code gets pasted twice, or in the wrong order?
It's fine. Every code knows what it is. Pasting an earn code twice adds it once. A settlement can only close its voucher once — even if you also re-credited by hand. A gift offer can't double no matter how many ways it arrives. Old status codes can't overwrite newer ones. Order doesn't matter; enthusiasm doesn't break anything. And behind all of it, nothing touches a bank without you approving it on the ledger.
…a kid changes the clock on their phone?
Less than they'd hope. Banks, streaks, the daily non-negotiables, and family goals all live on your device and follow your clock — a kid's phone clock can't move any of them. What a changed clock can do: make a timer claim more minutes than were real (which lands in front of you for approval, where you can edit it — same as if they'd typed a big number), and in one narrow case re-run a voucher you'd already refunded. The countdown on their phone was never the real enforcement anyway — you are. ScreenWage is an honesty system with a parent at the middle, and it doesn't pretend to be tamper-proof software instead.
…both parents want the app on their own phones?
One phone is still the family ledger — the one where banks, approvals, and history actually live. But the other parent can now pair a co-parent device: from the main phone, Parent mode → Settings → "Co-parent (deputy device)" → "Add a co-parent", then scan the QR (or read the words) on the second phone. That phone gets a co-parent console: approve or reject the kids' pending XP, confirm the daily Basics (Foundation gate + evening wrap-up), give a bonus / deduction / voucher, say yes or no to idea requests, and read the season Recap. It sets its own PIN — your main parent PIN never leaves the main phone.
Two honest limits, stated plainly in the co-parent console: nothing there is instant — every action takes effect when the main phone next syncs (and is in front, not just online). And unlike everything else in ScreenWage, these actions have no paste-a-code backup: if the main phone stays offline for more than about 30 days, a queued action expires and the co-parent would re-do it. The main phone is always the one that actually applies things — with all the usual rules (bank never below 0, the both-parents-agreed check on big bonuses, the gate/limit checks before a voucher). So if both a parent and a co-parent decide the same thing, whoever the main phone hears first wins and the other simply does nothing — no double credit, no double charge. One thing stays on the main phone only: adding a kid's idea to the menu. The co-parent can say "yes" to an idea, and it then waits on the main phone as "co-parent approved — add to menu?" for you to finish. To remove a co-parent, rotate the family token (Settings → Kid phones → Rotate) — that re-keys the whole family, so every kid phone re-pairs too; there's no one-off removal.
Two ledger phones remains unsupported and won't merge — a co-parent device is a viewer/approver, not a second ledger. If you want to move the ledger itself between phones, export on the old one and restore on the new one, then stop using the old one.
…a kid deletes the app or clears their browser?
Their phone was designed to be losable. It never held their bank — that's on your ledger, untouched. What disappears: their pairing, their recent codes, and anything finished but not yet sent (work that never synced and was never shared as a code is honestly gone). Getting back takes one minute: you generate a short pairing code in Settings, they paste it, and the next sync fills in their menus, bank, streak, and goals (no connection? one more short config code carries the menus). An issued voucher that died with the phone: re-credit it from your ledger.
…I scanned the pairing QR but the app "forgot" it after installing?
This is an iPhone quirk, and ScreenWage now steers you around it. On iOS, Safari and the installed app are two separate boxes — a code you scan in Safari pairs in Safari's box, which the installed app can't read (Apple gives apps no way to bridge them). So when you scan a pairing link in a browser, ScreenWage shows an "install first" screen: add it to the home screen, then open the new icon and pair there. On Android the pairing usually carries into the installed app on its own. Either way, if the installed app opens without the pairing, just paste the code once — the paste path always works, and the family key lives safely on the ledger.
…the sync service is down for a week?
The app doesn't really care. Sync is a convenience layered on top of a system that fully works without it — that's why every screen keeps its codes. The moment sync fails, the code tools come back front-and-center, and everything (earns, vouchers, settlements, gifts, status updates) travels by share-sheet and paste exactly like it did before sync existed. Kid phones quietly queue what they couldn't send. When the service comes back, everything reconciles, and the duplicate-protection above means the reunion is boring. Nothing expires in a week. Nothing needs you to do anything.